1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image taking device, such as a digital camera, provided with a bent optical system.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a body of a camera, as an image taking device, is moved by vibration or shaking of hands which hold the body while taking an image of an object (or while exposing), the image thereof formed or focused on an acceptance surface, or on a light receiving surface, moves or shifts with respect to the acceptance surface, so that a captured image, becomes uncleared or blurred. In order to solve this problem, there has been proposed a camera provided with an image shake preventing mechanism, which makes an optical axis thereof deflect so as to counteract a shift of the image focus position with respect to the acceptance surface, when the camera is moved or shaken with respect to the object.
As for such an image shake preventing mechanism, there has been proposed one type thereof which translates an image shake preventing lens in parallel with a direction perpendicular to the optical axis as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Non-Examined Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-180040. Also, there has been proposed the other type thereof which tilts an incident plane or a reflection plane of a Vari-Angle Prism, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Non-examined Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-11304.
On the other hand, there has been provided a camera, an optical axis of which is bent so as to make the camera low-profile and compact. Such a camera has a high sensitivity to an error due to its small construction, or miniaturization, thereof, so that only a small error causes a great influence on the performance thereof. Thus, it is necessary to adjust a deflection or eccentricity of the optical axis accurately. Such an adjustment is, however, difficult. Moreover, the shake of such a low-profile camera tends to be relatively greater.
In order to provide the camera with such an image shake preventing function, the aforementioned one type thereof in which the image shake preventing lens is translated in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis, requires a 2-dimensional slide mechanism arranged around an image taking optical system. Therefore, the construction thereof becomes complicated. As for the aforementioned other type thereof, the optical aberration of the Vari-Angle Prism is large, and it is not suitable for a still picture record type of camera which is expected to have a high performance.